The Ministers Son | ONC 24

Chapter Nine

They leave me alone in the room for hours. At some point my parents come bursting in, mum in floods of tears, dad pale, both of them utterly freaked out.

"It was very brave but why would you do such a thing!" Mum is half-shrieking as she holds me tightly to her chest.

"I wasn't thinking. Look, I really need to-"

"You have no idea what it was like getting a call like that. I thought you were dead!"

"I'm not though, I'm okay. Mum, can you ask if-"

"And you broke your arm! In three places! That will be on for three months, the doctor said. Oh, look at you. Is there anywhere else that hurts?"

"No, it's just my arm." I say, to quickly placate her so I get the answer I really need. "Do you have any idea if-"

"It was truly a selfless thing, Harps. But so incredibly dangerous!"

"MUM!" I shout, which I never do, she immediately withdraws so she can get a good look at me. I feel bad, I do. But I need to know. "My friend, Ed. He was shot because I jumped that guy. Do you have any idea if he's okay?"

"Oh, honey." Mum gives me an almost pitying look and I brace myself for the worst news. "That wasn't your fault."

"Of course it was. If I hadn't of moved the shooters aim Ed wouldn't have gotten shot."

"You saved the Prime Minister's life."

"I got a teenager who hasn't gotten the chance to live yet, shot! He's my friend! I've been asking and asking but not a single person will tell me if he's okay or not. The idea I might have killed him is tearing me apart. So, please mum, can you find out?"

The room is silent whilst both my parents stare  at me. "I will ask," Mum says. "But I need you to understand that whether he is okay or not, it is absolutely not your fault. Do you understand?"

I don't say anything.

"Harper?" She says my name like a demand.

I give her a weak nod and she stands.

"I'll see what I can find out. Jim, you watch her like a hawk."

Dad nods and sits on the edge of my bed, taking mums spot. He waits until she's out of the room and then he pats my knee gently, "You know, if you wanted to go back to Australia that badly you could have just told us."

I laugh, which feels alien, like a betrayal of some sort. There shouldn't be laughter when Ed could be dead.

Mums gone for quite a while, when she comes back she has two men in dark plain clothes with her. I sit up, ready to hear about Ed, but that isn't what happens.

"Harper," Mum says, sounding oddly nervous. "These men have a few questions for you."

"Hopefully we won't take up too much of your time." One of the men say, it's the guy who was at the scene, the one with the no nonsense face.

"Okay?" I feel on edge, and for some reason I want to offer them a seat, though there isn't any.

"If you could walk us through what happened today, that would be great. Start from the beginning."

Mum walks around and takes my hand, a show of solidarity.

I swallow. "The beginning of my day?"

"If that's where you'd like to start." No nonsense says.

I don't though, I start at the hockey match. I tell them Ed and I have a little falling out, that I was rushing to meet him. I tell them I stopped to watch the police escort, that I didn't know who was inside.

I tell them all about the man in black and how I thought he was paparazzi.

"So, you didn't know him?"

"No. I've never seen him before."

"And he said nothing to you?"

"No." I think about it. "I don't think so anyway."

"Was there anything odd about him?"

"What? You mean gun-wielding aside?"

"Yes."

"Well, I mean, yeah. He seemed odd from the start. Frantically searching his bag, though God knows what for because that gun was huge."

"And why did you decide to jump on him?"

"I, uh, I don't know. I saw Ed, I saw the gun and I just sort of... acted." I fidget in my bed. "Am I in trouble?"

"No." He says, but I don't believe him.

They ask me questions for hours. I have to recount what happened a million times, I start to question if what happened was actually what happened. That's how many times they make me repeat it.

I try to read them, see how they are reading me but they give nothing away. Not a single gesture to suggest if they believe me, that they know I'm telling the truth, how they feel about my version of events.

After a while I start to feel strung out and tired, almost delirious. I'm on the verge of tears again, all this talking and I'm still no closer to finding out how Ed is.

"I think it's time to call it a day." Dad finally says. "My daughter is spent and she needs time to rest."

"Of course." No nonsense nods. They head towards the door, just as he's about to step through it he turns to me. "Edward is fine."

The two men and my parents watch as I physically relax, breathing out as if I had been holding a breath this whole time.

"The bullet went straight through his shoulder. A clean wound. He would have been fine if he'd told someone straight away, instead he was concerned with making sure you were okay. He lost a lot of blood and had to have a transfusion... but he is going to be just fine."

They leave without saying another word. As soon as the hospital door clicks closed, I burst into tears. Mum pulls me into her arms and holds me whilst I cry.

She tells me she's proud, that I'm brave. She keeps telling me I'm okay, that I'll be okay. But I'm just so thankful Ed is alright.

He's going to be alright.

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